Applications of the Infinite Momentum Method to Quantum Electrodynamics and Bound State Problems

Technical Report · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1973

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1442943· OSTI ID:1442943

Brodsky, Stanley J. ^[1]

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1. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Despite the passage of over a quarter century, the' basic rules of calculation in quantum field theory have changed little since the development of the Feynman-Dyson-Schwinger analysis, although there has been extraordinary progress in techniques. The dispersion method represents an important alternative for the calculation of the case of the 3-point vertex graph, but these calculations are often even more arduous than the standard Feynman method and can involve subtle and non-uniform infrared problems. In the case of bound state problems, we must rely on the vigorous Bethe-Salpeter formalism, or alternatively, on the somewhat more tractable quasi-potential method. The latter method, however, has difficulties with non-uniqueness and anomalous analytic properties and it is not clear how to estimate its errOrS systematically. It should be emphasized that the precision of the experimental measurements of both the positronium and muonium hyperfine splittings are well beyond the present accuracy of our computational methods.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC); US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1442943
• Report Number(s): SLAC-PUB--1328
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS